Sons Of War
by WittyisGeorge17
Summary: Based off Disney movie Mulan. Bella takes her fathers place in the army only to meet a stern young army commander that wants nothing more than to win, Edward. ExB Hopefully good story PLEASE READ!
1. Chapter 1

**This story is based off of the Disney movie Mulan. It is set in 1918 in the prospering United States. The army is gathering in Chicago. There is no emperor to save, instead it is the President, who is not going to be the actual president that reigned at that time. They are fighting with Germany, and this war is also a war of complete fiction, made up to fit the story line i have been inspired to go by.**

**This also happens to be my first Twilight Fanfic, and so i hope you like it. I would like to start this story off with at least 5 reviews for the first chapter. And even though the story is based off of Mulan, i will not follow the entire movie to the letter. So on a more anxious note. Enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: All characters belong to Stephanie Meyer, the underlying plot to Disney. I own nothing.........except for what i do own. So sad(sigh).**

**P.S.- Feel free to ask any questions you would like about the story in your reviews**.

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Chapter One: Meeting the Matchmaker

B POV

I woke up to the bright white light of the sun streaming through my bedroom window. I lay there, pondering the upcoming events of the day when I heard the shouts of my mother calling for me to get out of bed, and into clothes decent for todays activities. I groaned as I shifted the covers away from my body. Today, I would be meeting the matchmaker. I know it even sounds stupid when I think it.

My mother was Renee Swan, my father Charlie Swan, and I was their only child and a girl at that. Isabella Swan, but I prefer Bella. We lived in the newly developing town of Forks, Washington, and today I was off to town so some lady in a fancy dress could tell me wether or not I would make a suitable wife. Ha. Me married, I was a free spirit and no way in hell would I be tying myself down any time soon.

Walking down the stairwell in our family's modest two story house I could hear my mother talking excitedly to the mothers of my two bestfriends in the entire world, Alice Cullen, and Rosalie Hale. As I came into the living area of the house I was assaulted with hugs from he two girls previoulsy mentioned. Alice was bubbly as always, with way more energy for this time in the morning than she had any right to be. Roslaie was next, looking gorgeous in a simple red silk dress. They too would be coming to have the 'matchmaker' determine the future of their love lives. Although unlike myself, they thought it would be a fun experience. They didn't have to worry about she said, because they were already being courted by the ohers brother.

Jasper Hale was tall, blonde, and incredibly calm. He had sharp blue eyes, a matching set to his younger sisters. The moment he had seen Alice almost 10 years ago, he swore he was in love, and Alice swore the same. When she first set eyes on him, she looked at me and Rose and exclaimed " That's the boy i'm going to marry!" And anyone could see that she meant it. She didn't even look twice at other boys.

Emmett Cullen was another story altogether. Tall and seriously muscled, he intimidated anyone that had the fortune to be in his prescence for more than 10 seconds. He had short brown hair that had a slight curl, and was funloving to the extreme. You knew something was up when Emmett wasn't being a goof. That's why Rose loved him. Plus the fact that he wasn't intimidating to her, rather SHE intimidated him. It was so cute how he would do anything for her, and they weren't even officially together yet.

Ahh, 17 and in love. I sighed, there were times when i felt alon, and times when i couldn't be happier i was single and able to do anything i wanted.

All to soon our mothers announced that it was time to go, and so we followed them out the door and down the streets of Forks talking about what we thought the matchmakers reaction would be to each of us.

"Rose, you're going to do great, you're gorgeous. If she even thinks of turning you down me and Alice will come beat some sense into her, kay?" I tried to reassure Rose. She knew she was prtty, but she couldn't cook all that well and she was freaking. I don't know why she cared what this lady thought anyway, she already had the love of her life waiting for her back at home.

"I know, i know," She told us. "It's just i don't want to let mom down."

Rosalies mom, Caroline Hale, wanted Rose to be the perfect daughter. Ever since Rose's father had died, her mom had raised her standards even higher. It was taking it's toll on Rose, and she was always worried what her mom would think of everything she did.

"You could never dissapppoint your mother Rose," Alice told her. " Now Bella on the other hand," She continued, nudging me in the side and giggling.

"Hey hey" I tried to defend myself, "No fair, you guys know i'm the most clumsy person on the face of the Earth." It was true. I, Bella Swan, could trip over any given surface. Even if that surface was as smooth as glass and devoid of any natural or unnatural obstructions. In fact, i bet i could trip over air.

They just continued to laugh as we got into the line of girls waiting for the matchmaker to call thier name. We each carried an umbrella, and tried our best to look proper. Rose and Alice had their umbrella's perfectly positioned, while mine just wouldn't cooperate. As the doors to the House of Matchery slammed open, i grasped my umbrella firmly and got it to stick in the required place by my side. Madame Victoria stepped out, and strutted down the steps to stand directly in fron of us. She looked us all over, eyeing our clothes, our poise, and of course, our umbrella's.

I stuck my free hand behind my back and crossed my fingers as she pulled out a clipboar that had all our names on it. I DID NOT want to go first.

"Rosalie Hale." She called in a clear voice, a hint of a British accent lacing through her words.

Rose stepped forward and followed Madame Victoria into the house and i waited for her return with baited breath. I shot a quick glance to where Alice was standing, and saw that she too had her fingers crossed in the folds of her gown. A full 20 minutes later and then Rosalie walked carefully down the steps and over to her mother, a huge smile plasrtered on her face as she told her mother all of what happened in the house and showed her the paper with Rose's score on it. Her mother smiled and hugged her as tight as she could, as Victoria looked at her clipboard to call up the next person.

"Alice Cullen."

Alice danced gracefully to the steps and glided up to the doors. Not even 10 minutes later, half the time Rose's took, and Alice was dancing back out smiling charmingly. You could tell she had passed just by the amount of confidence she exuded. I was happy for the both of them.  
I turned swiftly back to give my full attention to the next name that would be called off, and almost completly froze when the words left her mouth.

"Isabella Swan."

I swallowed the nervousness that was building up in my throat and stepped carefully up to the steps. I ascended them with no trouble, thanking my lucky stars that no one had seen fit to make me trip on my way to the doors. I stepped in and closed the door behind myself, turing to look at my assessor.

"Madame." I greeted her politely.

"Speak when spoken to Miss Swan." she told me sternly, never looking up from the sheet of paper she was marking on.

"Pour the tea." She commanded quietly. I did as i was told, carefully taking the tea pot by the handle and pouring it into two cups. I went to hand hers to her, but fate had other ideas and when i leaned iver, my elbow hit the table causing the tea to cascade from the cup and into her lap. Needless to say the tea was very hot.

"AHHHHHHHGGGHHH!" she screamed, jumping up and holding the scalding piece of cloth away from her body. Though as she jumped up, she knocked into the brazier which was lit to provide a little light to the otherwise dark setting. The brazier tumbled onto it's side, catching a hold on the back of her dress and lighting it on fire. Trying my best to be of some help i grabbed the nearest liquid to pour over the fire, and ended up splashing the remainder of the tea into her face.

"I'm so so sorry" I tried to plead with her, but my plea fell on deaf ears.

"Get out." She ordered.

I scrambled to obey, standing and rushing out of the doors while she followed directly behind me. I stepped outside, my whole face red from the intensity of my blushing and ran down the stairs. I made it quickly over to stand beside Rose, Alice, and our mothers. Meanwhile, up on the platfrom near the stairs, Madame Victoria called out to me for all to hear, "You will NEVER make it as a bride."

I didn't care about that, but the disappointment on the face of my mother hurt. I hitched up my dress and ran home, sailing into the arms of my father, and crying on his shoulder. I apolagized over and over, and each time he said that he would rather he had a daughter to be proud of, than a daughter that wanted to be wed. I smiled a watery smile and we sat together on a stone bench in front of our pond, watching small ripples glide across it's surface.

All too soon though, the piece was disturbed when the sound of hoofsteps echoed through the town, and piercing horns blared over the walls that hid our home from view. Something was wrong, and i wanted to know what. But when my father left the gates to go see, he told me to wait for him to return. But i would not wait like a good little girl. No, i would find out the meaning of this disturbance in our small town. Good, or bad.

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**Authors Note: So, i hope you all enjoyed the first chapter. Please tell me if you like it and think i should continue. Ask me any questions you feel need asked, and FIRST PERSON TO REVIEW GETS A COOKIE!**


	2. Chapter 2

**My God. It seems like forever since last I updated this story….it must seem like that to you as well. I can't believe that I am even back to this part of my life, thinking I was done with it so long ago. But right now as my cousin sits beside me writing her own story, I can't help but remember the writings of a life time ago, and the want to return. I will try my best to make this story as good as I once wished it to be, as I once dreamt it would turn out. Bear with me as I get myself back into the groove of writing, and give me the support I will need to make you the very happy readers of Sons Of War.**

I watched with baited breath as my father made his way to the front gates and slipped through, closing and barring them behind himself and my mother as they made their way out front to the neighborhood gathering circle. I turned and ran as fast as I dared toward the back of the house where my room was located, and scrambled out of my dress, leaving a mess behind me, and crawling quickly out the window so as not to lose any more of my valuable time.

On the way around the house's front corner I shoved a pair of brown fleece breeches over the undergarments I had previously adorned for a day of embarrassment. Still on the run I shoved a modestly cut, long-sleeved, and plainly decorated knee-length flannel shirt over my head and skipped over to the wall that overlooked where the all the townspeople had gathered together to listen to the men that had ridden in. I glanced down into the crowd, my eyes searching for my father amongst the mass of people staring worriedly up into the faces of the men before them. Once I had found his mop of unruly brown hair and that of my mother's darker tresses, I searched the surrounding rooftops for my friends, knowing that, like myself, this would not be something that they let pass by them. I found Alice's short black spikes in record time, peering over the edge of her terracotta wall, and looking about anxiously for the faces of her parents, and more importantly, Jasper's. Rosalie was harder to spot, for her golden locks blended perfectly with the honeyed light that the sun emitted as it shone down around the circle and lit the faces of those below. The only reason I finally spotted her, I'm sure, was because of a slight shift in movement that provided a flash of red silk sitting gracefully behind one of the sculptures sitting atop her own wall. They looked up then, met my eye, and turned their own back to the proceedings below us.

"A message from the White House!" the one astride the spotted palomino yelled into the crisp thin air. His companions sat silently beside him on their own horses, the plumes on their hats waving slightly in the wind that had sprung up only moments ago.

"War is upon us!" the leader shouted, "it spreads from coast to coast and weakens the country through death and the separation of family. We cannot help the separation of loved ones from the bosom of their homes and lovers, but that is one sacrifice that must be made for the safety of the whole. I come to you now with the names of those that I needs take with me when I leave this place, the names of those that must fight for their country and for the loved ones they will be leaving behind. A draft is upon us, and one man from each family is the price we are to pay for the safety of our president, and of our country as a united nation, to me it is not too much to ask, and if you think differently, express your opinions in the quiet of your homes and beds, your thoughts and prayers, because as of this moment, those who are to fight are mine to lead on the journey to glory!"

I shifted apprehensively in my seat, breath baited, for I knew I could not make a sound for fear of being discovered. I watched silently as the man wound down from his speech, knowing he expected applause and praise, and I smiled with pious pride when all he received was silence. He looked about him for what seemed a lifetime, his eyes taking in all of the men that stood in the circle, before he leaned down and took a roll of parchment from the saddlebag at his side.

"Cullen." He called out, and everyone watched in strained silence as the two Cullen men took a long look at one another, before Doctor Cullen went to take the first step toward the draftmen, and Emmett reached out and pulled him back by the arm. Unwaveringly he stepped up to the men, and took his roll of parchment, the lines of his face hard and unforgiving where once there had been love and laughter. He walked back to where his parents stood, and a sob escaped from somewhere above the crowd. I looked to where Rose had been sitting previously, only to see her vanishing from sight, a hand held over her mouth, and tears streaming from her eyes. My heart broke a little as I watched the sorrow she felt spill forth, and I turned away, to hear the next name called.

"Hale." Another sob wrenched the stillness of the air as Jasper stepped forward to take his father's place. Alice slithered down her wall, looking much as Rosalie had, her bright blue eyes filled with tears she had yet to shed.

"Swan." Fear welled up in my breast as I watched my father make his way to where the men sat waiting and take the scroll they offered him. It seemed unreal as he walked back into the arms of my mother, who hid her face against his chest, and let a few tears escape.

"Nooo!" I was down the wall before I knew it, standing in the middle of the people gathered, waiting to be called to leave for some god-forsaken place, and await the kiss of death.

"You can't go," I pleaded with my father, "you served in the last war, you've done your duty to the country. Think of you leg," I sobbed, "You will die, you are unable to fight."

"You shame me daughter." His voice was filled with ice and his eyes had turned hard as flint. "When my country needs me, I will go wherever it needs it to go."

"You should learn to control an unruly daughter ser," the leader of the men told my father, "she will not make a good wife to any man if she is outspoken in the ways of men."

I looked to my mother to defend me, to tell my father that he mustn't go, but she just looked at me, shook her head, and whispered for me to go. I turned then and ran to the gate, wrenching it open and releasing my grief with the tears that fell from my eyes, and the first beneath my fingernails as I fell forward into the mud-packed pathway that wound towards the house. I cried to any God that would listen to make my father stay, and stayed huddled over like I was until twilight began to creep into the sky and the last tendrils of sunlight turned purple, and then burnished gold. Getting up I brushed the twigs and other debris from my clothing and made my way into the house. I watched as my mother readied my father's clothes for tomorrow, the day they were to depart. Not a day to waste, she told me.

I crept silently through the house looking for my father, and found him practicing with the sword his own father had bestowed upon him when he went to serve in his first war. He had gotten hurt then, a hack to his leg which had left him crippled for the rest of his life. As I watched that leg gave out, and he fell to the floor, his knees hitting first, and then his fists as he pounded the wood in frustration at his faults. My heart hurt inside me at the thought of him leaving so bad that I couldn't breathe, and I put a hand to my chest to steady myself before I continued on, a plan forming in the deepest recesses of my mind.

I waited for my parents to fall asleep before I put that plan into action. Throwing the covers that I had piled on top of myself to the floor, I moved stealthily from my room and down the hall to where my father's clothing and armor waited. Instead of his old sword, my father had packed the gun his brother had given him before he passed, and I shivered with the thought of him having to shoot at others, and more importantly of others having to shoot at him.

I looked around once, as I went about my business, thinking that I would be caught at any moment, and once I finished packing the clothing in an oil cloth, I slipped into the kitchen and took up a knife my mother had left lying on the counter. Taking it into my hand I looked at my reflection, studying myself and thinking about how I would look after I had done all that was necessary to save my father. Before I could think about it any longer I lay the knife against the tendrils of hair at my throat, and slashed, watching as it fell to the ground in a pile at my feet. Taking a deep breath I finished the job quickly, and glance once more into the knife to see the outcome of my daringness.

Staring back at me was a girl I didn't know, who was going out into the world to do something that no one had ever thought she would do. No one would believe it when they heard, I thought to myself, smiling slightly as I looked at my hacked brown tresses. When it was put up I would look more like a boy, or so I hoped. Donning my father's clothing, and putting the knife back where I had found it, I took a last look around me, and stepped first from the kitchen, then from the sitting area, and then from the house. I snuck from shadow to shadow, until I hit the barn and grabbing Caramel, our horse, I made my way back to the gate and out into the circle that had so short a time ago changed our lives forever. Jumping onto Caramel's back I set my heels into her sides and yelped, sending her flying forward into the moonlit night, the wind at my back, and my father still alive in the house with my mother. 'I love you both,' I thought, 'and Rose and Alice too. Emmett and Jasper,' I sighed to myself, 'I'll see you guys soon.'

**Well, well ,well. Good, no? Maybe? Hey, at least I finally updated. Give me at least, what? 10 reviews? And I'll update again. Think you can do that? Oh, and for my international readers….**

**THANK YOU! You don't know how cool I thought it was when I saw that people all the from Hong Kong were reading this story! I freaked, it was amazing. Oh how the internet unites us all**** Thanks again everyone, RandR, and hopefully I'll be back to update again soon!**


	3. Chapter 3

**And the third chapter is begun. Here's the thing…I didn't get the reviews I wanted to get…instead of the ten I would have liked….I only received three. So thank you to those of you who were kind enough to read and review. I hope you enjoy this next chapter**

Riding away from everything I had ever known was something new and terrifying. I had never given even the slightest thought to leaving Forks, and now there was a chance that I would never return. I looked behind me, into the dimly lit circle that stood forlorn and melancholy from the day's activities, and let a tear escape to fall down my cheek and splash onto Caramel's silky mane. I thought about my father and how he had always wanted only the best for his daughter, his only child, and of what this would do to him; this ultimate betrayal. I thought of my mother and the tears she would shed when she learned of my treasonous actions, for even as a gently bred woman I knew the consequences of deceiving the army's superior officers; death, and shame upon the family that had borne you.

I turned back to face the open road before me, and shivered through the cloak I had thrown about my shoulders; glancing from side to side I made my way slowly one mile form town, and then another, and then another, until I lost all track of time, and the minutes blurred into hours, and then into days as I made my way from one stony trail to another through Washington's vast wilderness. I had never known the true size of the state I called home until I set out on my own, looking for the nearest train depot, and not finding it, even as I crossed rivers and mountains that I had not previously known existed.

I sighed and patted Caramel's muzzle with a fond hand. Taking a swift upward glance at the sky I found the sun departing in a show of colors, from bronze, to gold, to blue, to deep purple, and pink. It was breath-taking; exhilarating, and I hated it. It reminded me of summers where Alice, Rose, and I had gone down to the ocean in LaPush, and watched the sun set with Jasper and Emmett. It reminded me of laughs, and fun, and sugared treats. The memories hurt so bad for a moment that I fell to the ground, my knees hitting the dirt, and gulped air in through my mouth; trying to regain control of my emotions, control of everything. I bedded down that night; I think it was my fifth on the trail, in a haze of confusion, resentment, and a mounting sense of fear.

When I awoke the sky was a clear, cloudless blue, and I thought of it as a good omen, that today would be the day I reached my destination, the depot, the place where my life would be turned upside down and all the way around. Reaching over I grabbed the sleeping bag I had used as bedding by the elastic that held it together, and let myself out of the cozy cocoon in which I had been ensconced. I kicked dirt over the remains of the fire I had used to cook my evening meal, and went to the edge of a nearby stream to clean myself. Stripping out of my clothes, I unwound the strip of doctor's cloth I had found under my parent's bed at home from where it bound my breasts flat to my chest. I stepped from the breeches I had stolen from my father's garments, and again prayed that neither he nor my mother had sent anyone after me, prayed that they had kept my disobedience a secret, and would continue to do so until no more excuses could be thought of. Keeping Caramel within my sight I clambered unsteadily down the minor slope to where the shallow water lapped readily at my claves, and sank down until I was sitting in the cool water, letting it wash over the dirt that had collected so far in my ride. I leaned back, and used my hands to scratch the dirt from my scalp, watching as it floated down the stream in streaks of brown; strands of hair mixed in the dirt clumps. I hummed to myself to keep thoughts of home away, and just as I began to enjoy my leisurely bath, a sound from behind me had me jumping up to cover myself with the change of clothes I had had the foresight to bring along for just such an occasion as a bath would require.

"I see the horse you lily-livered sissy, come on; if Caramel's here she has to be too."

I ducked at the noise whoever it was behind the branches of the trees was making, and then stilled as I recognized the familiar cadences of their speech patterns. Throwing on the clothes I had prepared I rushed to put on the pair of boots I had grabbed on my way through the door of my house, and jumped into the clearing, wary and ready for anything. I watched with a feeling of muted disbelief as the forms of my two best friends made their way into the clearing to stand, dirty and disheveled, beside my horse.

"Bella!" Alice was the first to see me standing there staring at them and promptly made her way over to stand in front of me for a lecture about the propriety of it all. She yelled, she got teary-eyed, and she lifted her arms to my shoulders and shook me like there was no tomorrow.

"What were you thinking?" Rose asked me incredulously, "Running off like that? Your parents are, to say the least, worried sick over you, and you're out tramping around the countryside!"

I could see that if I didn't intervene now, I wouldn't get the chance to say anything at all so I slipped in with, "Well, what would you have done? I couldn't let Charlie go off to war and kill himself! He served his country once, once is enough don't you think? So I stepped in to fill his shoes. You have to understand!" I was getting worked up now, mad that they had the audacity to berate me when in my mind I had done nothing wrong at all. They looked at me, their eyes filled with remorse, until Rosalie stepped forward and put her arms around me, and Alice stepped over for a group hug.

"We understand Bella," she whispered, "we understand all too well."

We stood there for a moment suspended in time, holding one another close and giving each all the comfort we had to offer. I was afraid to broach the next question for fear of upsetting the delicate balance of tranquility their presence had instilled, but the question had to be asked.

"What are we going to do now?" I whispered to them, my voice making barely a sound. I waited with my heart in my throat for their answers, keeping my head low, and my arms around them. I felt the shift in weight as Rose and Alice moved to look at each other, coming to a wordless conclusion that I felt I already knew. We had all made up our minds to do what the men in our families had forbidden us to even ask about, and we would see it through; with or without each other if that's what it was to come to.

We all broke apart when I felt Alice give her nod of approval, making the decision she and Rose had come to permanent.

When they looked at me I could see the determination in their eyes, the fire, and the desire to do what no other women had ever dared to do. I turned silently and gave them each a pair of clothes from the knapsack that Caramel had carried from home, and watched as they slipped into them unaided. I felt a twinge of surprise when Rose reached into her boots and pulled out a knife, but it receded as she reached up to cut the golden locks of her hair that her mother had before been so desperately proud of.

Alice pulled a cap low over her own hair, hiding the feminine cut her hair held, for though the spikes were not all together womanly, combined with Alice's unique features they made her look as if she were a pixie, walking amongst the mortals in a fairy-tale all her own. When they turned and whistled, we all waited mutely as their own horses galloped into the clearing, before each of us climbed into our saddles and took one last look around, hoping that maybe someone would step from the trees and tell us that we were dreaming, that none of this was real, and that we could all go back home. Nothing happened, no sign appeared, no bird chirped longingly as we rode off, and no branch waved in the wind to slow our departure. I sighed with the longing of times gone, and again set the hardness of my knees into Caramel's honey-brown sides.

"Well ladies," I said, turning to look at my friends, "We're off to war."


	4. Chapter 4

**Okay, so we're getting into a groove here. I'm writing, I'm updating, and it's all good. I don't know the number of reviews I got for the last chapter, but I hope they were more than the chapter before that**** I hope you like the story so far, and since I forgot the last two chapters in my haste to update I'll go through the usual procedures. **

**Disclaimer: I DO NOT own Twilight or any of the characters, I don't own Mulan, and all of the scenes displaying political figures and places are false. So don't write your history reports on them. Read and Review my lovelies, and have a merry Christmas!**

As we made our way to a depot we didn't even know existed, the bond we had built with one another was tested beyond anything we had ever imagined back in our enclosed home; our rural community. Rose complained more often than not, about anything and everything. The rocks the horse stepped over that caused her to bounce in her seat, the way her shortened hair tickled her neck and caused a rash to the exposed skin; even the water we had to drink, and the food we had to eat.

In contrast Alice said hardly anything to anyone, preferring to keep her thoughts to herself. She rode in restrained silence, though at times it was obvious even to me that she wanted to wipe the complaints from Rosalie with a good hard whack to her prized facial features.

As for me, I said enough, and rode on with quiet perseverance; I knew why I was here and what I was going to do, even if the other two didn't. We plodded along for another two days, watching as the scenery changed from mountains to plains and back again. Just when we were ready give up; Alice and I had completely tired of Rosalie's constant stream of objections; a babble of noise reached out and trapped us in its pleasant thrall. The chatter of people and the smell of smoke issuing from the train was like a breath of fresh air when you're surrounded by a thick fog, and the only thing you can take in is the thin tendrils that float in through your nose and mouth and leave you gasping. The three of us looked at each other as silent relief stole through me. We had made it to the end of the first leg of a long journey. I sighed gratefully.

Dismounting from Caramel's lofty height, I made my way towards one of the boys selling tickets to the common folk.

"Can I get three to Chicago, please?" I asked him quietly. If I were overheard asking about tickets to the wars main bases it would look strange and more than a little suspicious to people who may have been through our town, or if any of the men who had been drafted from Forks were to show up while we were here. The ticket boy scrambled to pull three tickets made from fine white paper out of the sack at his side.

"Here Ma'am," he stuttered, looking at me longer than I thought necessary for the time it took to trade the money I had brought with me for the tickets he held.

"Thank you." I told him politely, it wouldn't do to offend anyone in even the slightest manner. I walked back to Rose and Alice triumphant, and handed them each their ticket, grinning broadly at the small feat I had managed to accomplish.

"Bella," Alice spoke up, her tone mild and laced with more than a little amusement, "these tickets say the next train doesn't leave 'till tomorrow morning at 9:00." She looked up, both exasperation and laughter blended in her expression. I snatched the tickets from her hands with a haste and speed I didn't know I possessed and checked the time stamped on the bottom. I looked up, an expression of dismay overcoming my features, and stammered out that, what could they expect? I had no clue what I was doing.

Alice told me it was fine, that it didn't make much of a difference either way, and that if I didn't stop blushing someone was going to notice that the pink color my cheeks took on wasn't natural to a "boy" of my supposed age. Rosalie huffed and asked where we would stay, saying that one more night sleeping on the floor was going to kill her, and give her back pains that would last a life time. I told them that one more night wouldn't hurt us, and continued to tell Rose that if she thought the journey so far was rough, imagine what we could expect from army training. That shut her up and kept her quiet while Alice and I took a quick tour of the depot to get familiar with things, and discovered that they had a building roughly the size of a barn where we could bed our horses and spend the night if we so wished. I made the decision that a warm place to sleep would be in our best interest, and promptly walked to the barn to get a good night's sleep before we would have to depart. Rose followed sullenly, and Alice skipped in behind her in her usual perky manner. I guess that prospect of arriving to our desired area had given her more cheer than the rest of us.

"Goodnight Rose; Alice," I whispered into the gathering gloom of the buildings corner. Rose's horse Vanilla whinnied a goodnight as well, and in minutes we were all asleep, exhausted by the day's activities.

"Bella, Bella WAKE up!" I awoke to the sound of Alice shouting into my ear, and Rosalie shaking me into oblivion. For the shortest of moments I thought that we had missed our train, until I heard the announcer calling for the all the early birds to get on. I wasted no time in grabbing the blankets we had used and throwing them into Caramel's saddlebags; taking her by the reigns I lead her and the others outside into the early morning sunlight, and aboard the train. The horses were taken from us by a hardened looking old man that told us we could have them back at trip's end. From here on out we were take our seats and leave them only for the call of Mother Nature, and to eat. We nodded our obedience and set off toward the passenger compartments to await the end of the our long drawn out pathway to betrayal.

**Okay so I know this chapter isn't as long as you would like, and that's it's mostly insignificant details about the parts of the story that people would rather not read, but hey. It's a filler, the next chapter will have much more to write about. The introduction of new characters and the tensions and rivalries they exude. Maybe even the unmasking of a couple of our favorite heroines. Who knows….stick around to find out….read more, and most importantly REVIEW! I think I got ONE last chapter. Do you realize how demoralizing that is? I know people read the story, so take just a little more time….not even two minutes, to drop a little review. It will get you everywhere. Let's try for 5…5 people, and the next chapter will get posted. No reviews…..no chapter. Simple as that. Thank you and have a MERRY MERRY CHRISTMAS!**


	5. Chapter 5

**My God guys, I asked for 10 reviews, expecting to get maybe 3 or 4, but you guys really just….I'm speechless. I think I got around 15, which to some people may not be much, but hey I just got back into the swing of things and I think it's great! I hope I keep everything up to your expectations, as well as up to mine. Jeez, you guys don't even know how great this is for me….thank you.**

**Disclaimer: Though I wish it were otherwise, I own neither Twilight, nor Mulan, or anything that branches off of that. As for extra characters, I may own them. Depends. Off we go!**

Arriving at the army's base camp was like nothing any one of us had ever experienced. It was crowded, filled with bare-chested men, and it reeked like sweat and other things I don't care to name. Looking over the tents that had been constructed for the recruits use, I felt sick, and I could see by the looks on the faces of both Alice and Rose that reality had caught hold of them as well. The guilt I felt for dragging them into this was overwhelming, and all I wanted to do was retreat from the eyes of those watching our journey across camp and cry. But I knew I couldn't do that, for any number of reasons, and so I held my head high, and marched across the uneven, grass-pocked, pebble strewn ground to get the clothes that the army had to offer. Uniforms were mandatory, and I could feel the disgust that radiated from Rosalie's slim figure at the thought of donning clothes that another had worn, maybe to the death.

When we reached the tent that held the dirty disgruntled old man that handed out the clothing, we were forced to stand in line before we were inspected by two minor officers. Thank the Lord we were allowed to keep our own clothes on, or our expedition would have ended then and there. After the quick once over that told us only one thing, that we looked extremely malnourished for 17 year old men, we were given the smallest clothes available, Alice still didn't fit into hers, and sent off to find the quarters we would be staying in for the duration of the war.

We walked side by side through the camp, earning glances from men and boys alike as we made our way to the far end of the camp where we would sleep in a tiny tent that wasn't meant for two much less three. Stopping just outside the miniscule structure we sighed a collective sigh that said more than the three of us could ever say aloud. We were in it to the end now, and we knew it, which in a way was more frightening that anything else had ever been. We couldn't bail when the going got tough, we couldn't run when we were scared, and our parents wouldn't be standing alongside us cheering us on to victory. They couldn't reveal us, or we were most definitely dead, maybe more so than if we actually saw any fighting in this god-forsaken war. I said a quick prayer to keep our parents safe, and another to keep anyone from finding out the secret we carried beneath the layers of clothing we wore. I could only hope for the best, and be happy when I only got a portion of that.

A bell chiming in the distance brought my attention back to the present and the friends that stood at either side of me, and I turned to acknowledge them now.

"Dinner," I said quietly, moving toward the rest of the camp, and the hot meal I could smell even from here.

"I'm not hungry," Rosalie stated adamantly, "I'll eat later."

Alice looked over at her in exasperation, walked to where Rose was standing and grabbed her elbow firmly.

"Rosalie Hale," she exclaimed stubbornly, "you're eating whether you wish to or not. The army isn't like at home. There are set mealtimes, everyone eats together, or they don't eat at all. If you don't come with Bella and I willingly, we'll take you by force. I swear, this drama queen attitude of yours won't get you anywhere here. Only hard work and obedience will get us from being noticed in the crowd."

"She's right Rose," I mumbled. "We need to go." The truth was I wasn't hungry either, my stomach was twisted in nervous knots, and my breath was coming short and fast. I was on the edge of a breakdown, and I knew it. I took some deep breaths, and suggested they do the same. I knew Alice was right about the food thing though, so after several more minutes we set off toward the center of camp where dinner was being served.

"Hot meat pie! Get your meat pies! Hot off the fire!" The cook was yelling. His voice was scratchy and deep, like he had been doing this for years, and I shied away instinctively from the racket he made, and bumped into the man standing at my back, waiting to get his food. He, in turn, shoved me forward, not happy with being run into to by a scrawny boy, nervous and scared at the noises surrounding him. I stumbled into Rose, who was standing in front of me, who fell into Alice, standing in front of her. Alice, who was smaller than most 13 year olds, fell forward so quickly and with so much force behind her that she knocked over the man standing in front of her. It escalated quickly.

Men kept falling forward, and stumbling over one another until the line was almost completely demolished. The cook, oblivious to the actions of those around him, kept scooping hot meat pies onto plates and setting them off to the side for the men to pick up and be on their way. I'm sure the tripping of the men would have knocked over that shiny outside stove too, had one of the men not bumped into a giant of a man near the front. The man fell backward from the impact, but the giant hardly seemed moved at all. Men all over were staggering up, rubbing bruised parts, when a fist fight broke out in the middle of the line about who had started the whole thing. I stayed near Alice and Rose, and we kept hidden behind a brawny man just ten men away from the fight.

The two fighters kept at it until others stepped in to lend some aid in stopping the physical battle. Not that it helped much. When men get going they don't slow easy I learned that day. The more people that came to help, the more momentum the fight gained as more men got involved, and more fists flew. The three of us watched in mounting disbelief and horror as the fighting made its way slowly to where the cook was still making his meat pies, completely unobservant to the fight escalading among the men. Once again someone slammed into the mountain of man toward the front, and this time he didn't ignore it.

Turning around the giant sent a muscle packed punch flying toward the other guy's face, catching him completely unawares. Friends of the fallen man swarmed the giant until you couldn't tell where one man ended and the other began. And then, out of nowhere, a lanky somewhat laid-back looking fellow stepped in to help the big guy, and threw his own punches at the men covering his friend. From my side I heard Alice whisper, "Bella, Bella, that's Jasper!"

I squinted at the two men taking on half the line, and sure enough, the lanky one was identical to Alice's beloved fiancé, and Rosalie's exasperating brother, Jasper Hale.

"If that's Jasper, then that has to be Emmett," Rose exclaimed wildly, moving toward the boys, an ecstatic grin etched across her face. I grabbed her around the waist as she started to run off, and whispered fiercely, "Rosalie, no. You can't go to them; we can't blow our cover, not now, not even to Emmett and Jasper." I watched as the glee left her eyes, and her body went slack in my arms. Before I could release her though, a booming voice cascaded through the line of fighting men and we all stopped in our tracks, peered over our shoulders, and straightened up as a man in captain's clothes and adornments looked us over with cold eyes.

"Is this how you display the honor of the United States of America?" He asked us now, deadly quiet. "Is this how you show loyalty to the army and to each other? Shameless fighting amongst your brethren and groveling in the dirt like misbehaved children?" He stood rigidly, back straight, and mouth firm as his eyes searched all of our faces, one by one. When he reached me, his eyes stopped and held, and then lowered, and I thought that maybe I had forgotten to fasten the strip of cloth that bound my breasts flat to my chest. I glanced down, and a blush bloomed quickly as I realized that I was still holding onto the waist of Rosalie, whom he thought was another male. I was mortified, and as he brought his eyes back up to search my own my blush flamed ever brighter. I quickly released Rose, and brought my arms to my sides, looking down in shame and embarrassment so great I doubt I'd ever be able to face this officer again.

When I looked up, he was walking toward me, his long strides bringing him within arms distance from myself within seconds. When he bent his head to better see my face, I swear even now that my breath left my body and my heart stopped in my chest. Though his expression was no friendlier that it had been moments before, up close I could see everything I had missed farther away. Eyes I had thought were light brown, turned into the lightest honey. They glared cold ice at all they beheld, but the beauty was still there for those who wished to see it. Hair that had looked almost red held a burnished copper appearance that blended perfectly with his pale skin. Though not so pale as my own, it was still an oddity, for how much he must have been exposed to extreme weather conditions. And when he spoke his voice was so smooth, like a thin velvet sheet that caressed my senses and set my head to reeling.

"What is your name soldier?" He asked me, loud enough for all to hear. I stuttered and stammered, trying to buy myself enough time to think. Here, in this place, I couldn't be Bella, for Bella was a girl that loved everything a soldier wouldn't.

"Well?" He asked, his voice losing its tolerant sheen, and again becoming as cool and hard as granite.

Behind me I heard Alice whisper, for only my ears to hear, names that I could choose from. With the captain staring at me like he was it was no wonder I couldn't think straight. After several tense moments of silence and a few more where men down the line chuckled at my lack of wit, or intelligence or both, I finally came to my senses and squeaked out a name that seemed suitable.

"Isaac," I mouthed silently, and just before I was sure he was about to question me again, make me say it for all to hear, I repeated it.

"Isaac, my name is Isaac." I made my voice as deep as it would go without making it seem as if I were trying to make it go deeper, and looked the captain straight in the eye.

"Isaac," he repeated dubiously, staring at me as if he knew I was lying, and looking behind me at my companions. "And you?" He asked steely, watching them as they too scrambled for fake identities. Alice recovered the quickest, covering for Rosalie's lack of speech.

"I'm Aaron." She stated smartly, clicking together her heels like she had seen the other soldiers do, and putting a hand to her forehead in a fashionable salute. She looked hilarious, dressed up in men's clothes that were too big for her, and saluting a man that had no compassion whatsoever. I almost laughed, but stopped myself when I knew I would be questioned about the cause of my humor. Down the line I saw Jasper lift his head a little and look in our direction, Alice had barely even tried to deepen her voice, and he had recognized the familiar cadences that appeared in her sharp clear way of speaking. I looked over at her in a panic, and she nodded infinitesimally as the captain turned to Rose, showing she understood what I was about.

Rosalie coughed quickly before stammering out "And I'm Rayne."

He looked over us once more, before turning back around to address the group as a whole.

"I want no more of this," he instructed, "from now on you will act as if you were family, you will help one another, and you will teach one another. If it comes to it, you will die for one another." His voice bespoke finality, and a sourness descended over the men standing there.

"Now eat, and if I hear of any more fights breaking out, none of you will be safe from the detentions the army has to offer." He started to walk off then, and as he went he threw over his shoulder, "though you may want to let little Aaron eat first, I've seen 7 year old girls bigger than he is. As for the love birds," he gestured toward myself and Rosalie, "allow them to escort the little guy, he may need protection. And so we made our way to the front of the line, took our food, and slipped silently back to our tent for a more peaceful meal, not suspecting in the least that we would be followed.

**Well everyone, I hope you liked it. I don't know if it sounds as deep and sophisticated as I would like it to, but hey, as long as you guys like it, I'm good. Last time I asked for at least 10 reviews and got around 15. 10 was what I needed to update. Now that I know there's so many of you out there reading this, I'm going to ask for 17. 17 reviews and you guys get an update. Sound fair? I hope so, cause this time I'm putting my foot down, and I promise, no update until I get at LEAST 17 reviews. Thank you for reading Sons of War, click the button down there that says review, and enjoy the rest of your day, or night, depending. I hope you enjoy the next chapter just as much as this one:D**


	6. Chapter 6

**Well, long as it's been, I'm happy to say I do have an update. And hopefully hope to have more soon. I know I say that a lot, and that you probably don't believe me anymore but, God willing, it will. So now I leave you in the hopes that you enjoy this next chapter, and aren't too mad that it didn't come earlier.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own either Twilight or Mulan. Thank God. So here we go…**

Slipping silently into the tent with Alice and Rose right behind her, I sat sullenly in a corner in order to eat her food without bumping into the others. Following my example, Alice sidled over to the corner nearest me, and Rose plopped down in front of the door. The first part of our meal commenced in silence, the only sounds being those our utensils made as they scraped against our plates.

"I don't understand the cruelty displayed here," Alice commented sadly once she was done with her meat pie. She looked upon the plate in blatant disgust, and we had to admit that while the food was edible, it wouldn't ever have enticed us into eating it under any other circumstances than those we were currently ensconced in.

"It wasn't cruelty in essence Ali," I told her softly. "It was the dominant male presence in the company asserting his authority over his regiment. Men don't like to be undermined where they should be in control." Where that explanation came from, I didn't know myself, but as Alice looked at me with complete trust after I had uttered it, I knew I had to act as if I too believed it. Rosalie stayed silent, but I saw as her head lifted a little, and her look of dejection decreased the tiniest fraction.

Meanwhile, and completely without the girls' knowledge, outside two of their regiment's soldiers were snooping around their tent, trying so far without success to hear some of the conversation within.

"Jaz, it's impossible, give it a rest and let's get out of here," Emmett complained sullenly. Jasper, however, was determined to prove to himself that it wasn't just his overactive imagination missing Alice that had conjured her voice earlier that night in the dinner line.

"Emmett, they're here. I _heard_ her! Believe me and trust in my hearing just this once. If I'm wrong, I won't ask you to do anything of this sort ever again."

Emmett, exasperated though he was, was loathe to disappoint his best friend, and so crept along silently behind him, straining his ears in the case that Jasper happened to be right about the girls' being in camp.

Catching the tail-end of Bella's little speech; both young men looked at each other, and in silent agreement, went to either side of the tents door flap. With a nod and a flick of their wrists, the door flap was swung wide and the women's shrieks met their ears. If they had had any doubts beforehand of the persons inside the tent being of the female variety, those screams relieved them.

When the door flap was flung open so carelessly, Rosalie had been flung forward in her fright, and had toppled onto Alice in the far corner, where both were now tangled together and trying to free themselves. Thinking it may very well be some sort of commanding officer, I grabbed my hat to try and cover my hair, forgetting for a moment that it was quite shorter than its usual length. My surprise when Jasper and Emmett entered our small dwelling was greater than any surprise I have ever experienced before in my 17 years. I was speechless.

Rosalie, struggling to regain her balance as Alice shoved her off of herself, stumbled back, only to fall into a pair of arms most decidedly male. Another small shriek escaped her before she was turned toward the man who held her, and she was able to the face of which she had so often dreamed. Her eyes widened, and then filled with tears as her lower lip began to tremble, and Emmett, thoroughly ready to chastise them for their dangerous mission, stopped to hold her tightly to him and whisper sweet nothings and assurances in her ear.

Alice, still wiping herself off, and wrinkling her nose in distaste of the grease from the night's food that had been spilled on her in Rosalie's frantic sprawl, looked up with a look of pure frustration in her eyes for whosoever had dared to interrupt the privacy of their tent. Upon seeing Rosalie clinging to Emmett though, she stopped short, and Jasper's appearance from around his friends back had her opening and closing her mouth in a pathetic attempt to say something. The best she could come up with in such a state of shock was little more than a sigh.

Then, before Jasper could even begin to maneuver himself around the intertwined couple taking up virtually all of the tents space, Alice hurled herself at him, and showered his head with quick, light kisses.

All this affection at first had me smiling, but then my pleasure turned to a feeling most dismal as I realized we had been caught. Found out. The noose would most assuredly be meeting our thin necks this time tomorrow, for the feelings these four had for one another were surely going to be noticed in a camp full of men. Especially since neither Jasper, nor Emmett, looked anywhere near inclined to need that sort of…male companionship.

I coughed. And was ignored. So caught up were they all in seeing their loves before them that none of them had noticed that the tent flap was still hanging partially open, allowing anyone within a good distance an ample view. Luckily for us, no one was around, all the men still being at dinner, which led me to wonder why these two had so unfortunately decided they had to follow the three of us from the food clearing. I coughed again. This time I received little more than the response I had received last time, but at least it was a response.

"As sorry as I am to see this broken up," I stated clearly, "Unless you would like to reveal us so soon and send us to an early grave, you gentlemen," and here I looked pointedly at the two in question, "Will shut the door post-haste." Realizing the gravity of the situation, they hurried to do as I had told them, and we were concealed from any eyes determined to pry. Locked in the gloom of the tent in growing darkness with both Jasper and Emmett, along with Alice and Rosalie, was suffocating. The tent was nearly bursting at the sides in trying to accommodate the extra persons, and my breath was coming almost shallowly. I decided this needed to be discussed quickly, so the tent could be evacuated sooner, rather than later. I was going to die if I didn't get fresh air soon.

"Alright," I began my tone brisk, "Let's hear your ultimatum so we can clear this tent. It's not big enough for the five of us." They all looked around them then, and came to the realization that they were in fact _in_ a tent. For a minute there, the war had been all but forgotten. And then three of us, me, Alice, and Rose, all started to shift nervously. I wasn't looking forward to being criticized for my family devotion or the path it had taken me, but I stared at the two them, and braced myself for it all the same.

"Look," Jasper started, always the more calm and reasonable one of the two, "We can understand why you, Bella, would have done something like this. Something so incredibly _stupid_! We can't help that you love your father, but to risk getting yourself killed over something so meaningless is absolutely intolerable!" The fact that Jasper wasn't really quite up to yelling yet little helped me overcome the rush of emotion I felt. Angry tears swelled to my eyes.

"You don't understand at all! Either of you two! As men, it's much easier for you to step in and take the place of your father when something like this happens. And if you had been women, at least your fathers wouldn't have been lame in one leg, and not able to walk far without a cane, much less grovel around in the dirt as a soldier!" The tears spilled forth in abandon, and I wiped my eyes with the back of my hand.

"If I hadn't done this, my father wouldn't have come back alive, and you know it! If I hadn't done this, I couldn't have lived with myself for the fact that he was gone. It would have killed me inside, as surely as the guns out there would have mutilated him outside. I couldn't bear to think those thoughts, and now you have the gall, the gumption, nay, the audacity, to tell me that I am in the wrong! Well sirs, I'll have you know that whatever you do, I shall not leave this army, and I shall not go home until this war is and done and fought!" I took a deep breath, and lifted my shoulders, held my chin high, and felt the tears continue to stream from my eyes.

They looked at me then, for the first time, as a woman. Before, I had always been the little sister, the best friend, the girl next door. Never had I been so impassioned. Never had I given my thoughts so directly and so decidedly. And never had they admired me more.

"We won't say anything about this to anyone." Emmett assured us this, in the quietest tone he could muster. "As for the two of you," here he directed his gaze towards his fiancé and younger sister. "You two will be discreetly leaving camp come dawns superficial light."

This announcement was met with outraged countenances and firm denials that they would do nothing of the sort until I was free to go with them. I sighed, and came to the conclusion that I would leave them to hash it out with the males of our society. The tent may have been staked down in the corners, but with so many sitting in it at once, there was a gap near me between it and the ground just large enough for me to slip through on my stomach. Once out, I stood, dusted myself off, and strolled away. I walked until their voices could not be heard over the sound of rushing water, and made my way toward the river whose body was the sound source.

Upon reaching its banks, I stood there watching the movement of the water, and its twists and turns as it made its way from where it was to where it was going. I was mesmerized. My mind told me that this place would be perfect for bathing in future, when Alice, Rose, and I would need the utmost privacy. We could take no risk that someone might come along and find us out, only through the fact that our inclination to bathe had taken over. I turned to go back to the tent, and upon stepping back felt myself bump into something. At first thought, I realized I must have been clumsy enough to have hit a tree, and I smiled at my own foolishness. The thoughts that followed were more confusing. I didn't remember any trees on my way to this spot, in fact, I remembered only shrubbery. Some bushes at the most, convenient for shielding swimmers, but not for bumping into and staying steady when that inevitably happened. Second was the fact that, although trees did sway in the wind, they didn't have the rhythmic rise and fall in one particular spot that this one did. It felt as if the tree behind me must be breathing. Altogether impossible. The thing that really and truly told me that I hadn't run myself into a tree, however, was the fact that this "tree" could talk.

"Are you ever going to move?" I recognized the voice immediately, and flushed brightly when I remembered that this same man had witnessed my earlier lapse of judgment when I had held on to Rosalie for a fraction of a minute too long. Now I was leaning against him without the littlest thought of remorse, thinking he was of the plant variety. I leapt away, turned my face from his so he wouldn't see the remarkable red color it had reached, and tried to stammer out an apology.

"I…uh…you see…I never meant to…sir…" I trailed off into a mortified silence, knowing I had no good excuse to excuse my behavior. I shuffled my feet embarrassedly and waited for him to send me off.

"I do not tolerate "queerness" in my ranks, soldier." He announced harshly. I looked up to see the hard edge his jaw had become, but I dared look no further than his chin for fear of meeting his eyes and losing myself in them once again. Therefore, I missed the gleam in them that would have hinted at amusement had I known him better.

"Dismissed. Retreat to your tent soldier, and ready yourself for tomorrow's exercises."

Sighing in relief at finally being able to get out of the imposing presence of my commander, I turned hurriedly and walked off. Once past the confining wall of shrubbery that hid the river from view, I started to run, ashamed of what I had done, and dreading what tomorrow would bring. They say first impressions are everything, and both my first and second impressions had left a distinct feeling in my gut that I hadn't received a high opinion in his mind. The fact the a low, amused chuckle wafted to me from where our confrontation had been told me that not only did he think me _queer_, he thought my antics and intimidation of him vastly entertaining.

**Well, how did do for months on the shelf? Pretty good? Lacking? Review me so I can know exactly what is needed to make you guys happy! Thanks**** this story isn't just for my entertainment, but the entertainment of its readers as well….READ AND REVIEW! And remember…a review is the saving grace that grants another chapter. Let's try for 11 of those little guys.**


	7. Chapter 7

**Well, sorry I haven't updated in forever! I know you guys probably hate me by now for not writing anymore, and I know this doesn't even come close to making up for it, but here's the next chapter, and I hope you like it! Read and Review! And thank you for your patience, and your continued hope that this story WILL be completed. Someday. **

**DISCLAIMER: I OWN NOTHING! Except my own ideas. We all know this. **

I got back to the tent completely out of breath, and with his laughter still ringing in my ears. Now that I was away from him I realized just how horribly I had conducted myself. Not as a soldier would have, nor even a normal male, but as a shy little girl getting admonished for being found with her hand in the cookie jar. I was disgusted with myself.

Finding Rose and Alice already asleep when I entered, I sent up a silent prayer that they hadn't thought to follow me, and climbed into my own bedroll. Sleep took me directly, and I found myself washed away on the lulling tides of exhaustion.

"Are you ever going to move?" I heard his voice again in my dreams, felt myself leaning against him once more. "On second thought," I heard him start again, "don't. I like the feel of you against me."

His murmur sent tingles down my spine, and his breath on my ear had my dream legs ready to buckle.

"Uhnn…" It was all I could manage with his arms encircling me the way they were, his lips on the back of my neck taking up all of my concentration. I didn't even know his name, nor did he know mine. Even in my dream something about it seemed wrong; and yet so very right at the same time.

Abruptly my dream ended, and Alice stood in its place, demanding I get up and ready for the day ahead of us. I groaned and sat up, groggily rubbing away the grime of sleep. Looking around me I realized it was barely past dawn; outside the air would still be cold, though the breakfast would be warm. I got myself out of my roll, and dressed, and the three of us departed to the clearing where yesterday we had caused such a riot.

To my vast relief, neither Jasper nor Emmett had decided to accompany us to the breakfast line. Even so, my breath came in nervous, shallow spurts. I scanned the gathered assembly of soldiers quickly, my gaze moving intently to each of their faces in turn; I found myself trying in vain to locate my commanding officer before he could locate me, and I ducked behind the largest soldier near me when my searching eyes lit upon his imposing figure. Alice turned to look my way, a question in her liquid blue eyes. Rosalie never my saw my ungainly lunge to invisibility, too focused was she on picking out Emmett from the crowd. Finally, just as her upper lip began to quiver in her signature pout, a booming voice easily recognized sounded from farther up the line. She moved as if to walk forward, and then paused, obviously weighing in her mind the dangers of the situation. With a sigh she turned back to Alice and I, and her gaze slid to the ground as her thoughts enveloped her.

The shouts of an army in the morning are both raucous and impolite, as we discovered while we stood petulantly in that sweaty line of men waiting for food. Body parts were discussed openly, and no details were spared. Alice's eyes widened perceptibly when the second man from our own spot in line began a long spiel on the abnormal bruising he had discovered near his ballocks while bathing and Rosalie inhaled sharply in surprise when she overheard one of the lieutenants shouting about his latest womanly conquest to his companion. Too slowly, or so it seemed, the line moved inexorably forward, a human river with no dam to stop it. After what seemed like hours the three of us were handed steaming bowls of oatmeal, a teaspoon of brown sugar, and a cup to fill with water while we ate.

"Aaron! Rayne! Isaac!" I heard our fake names called over the din the men were making as they pushed and shoved each other from their chairs. I glanced to my left, lifting my gaze from where it had been previously rooted to the ground, and was met with the sight of Jasper and Emmett waving us to their table. Alice and Rosalie immediately turned on their heels and made a beeline for the seats offered to them. Slowly I trudged after them, keeping my eyes down while I slipped clumsily through knots of cranky men. Not until I was a mere table length away did I slide my eyes upwards once more, and the sight that met them was almost enough to send me running in the other direction as fast I could. Where before the place where he sat had been blocked by soldier after soldier, row after row, now the extra body sitting with Emmett and Jasper could be clearly seen. Though I didn't turn and run I did stop walking forward, silently berating myself for losing sight of him in the crowd, and when Alice and Rose noticed they too stopped and glanced at me questioningly. I shook my head, a silent plea for them to ask nothing of my unusual behavior, and mouthed that I would meet them at the training yard. Another quick glance in the direction of the table as the two of them turned to join the men showed me that the Captain had not yet noticed my presence, and I took this chance to slip away while watching him covertly. His back was straight, discipline etched in every line of his sinuous form. The bronze color of his hair shone like a polished penny in the morning sun, and even though I could not see them I had the feeling that his emerald eyes wore a diamond shield, his thoughts barred to world. The way he ate, slow and measured, showed both an inner confidence and a quiet vigilance over his troops. Every now and then he would comment on something or other that Emmett or Jasper said to the others, but he was otherwise silent, and I knew without knowing how I knew that he was looking for someone specific. That thought spooked me, more than the realization that I was attracted to this man could ever have done, and I half ran half stumbled away from where everyone else dined, preferring to consume my rations in the tranquil solitude that the shelter of a weeping willows branches offered.

**EPOV**

I knew the exact moment that the three of them began their walk over to our table that something was off. I looked to where Jasper and Emmett sat eagerly awaiting the arrival of these three men and wondered how they could have so easily forgotten the reason for the brawl yesterday. Though it was unusual in and of itself I trusted their judgment on such matters, and was satisfied that my troops were once again on friendly terms. I lowered my eyes back to my cereal, blowing on the hot oats before I lifted them to my mouth, and surreptitiously glanced once more at the approaching soldiers from the corners of my eyes. If they were surprised to see the commanding officer sitting with his soldiers, these two soldiers in particular, at first they gave no sign. The tallest, Rayne if I remembered correctly, spared hardly a glance for anyone on his way to the table, breakfast held tightly in both hands. Lithe and attractive, he was uncommonly handsome, almost too feminine in build to handle what the army, and the war, would surely throw his way. The shortest was fast on his heels, black hair flattened to his head, most likely from sleep. He too had the feminine grace the other showed, and a pair of unsettling sky blue eyes that could be used to his advantage, were he trained correctly. As the commanding officer of this garrison of troops, I knew there was another one, a third musketeer if you will that they were never without. Raising my head just a fraction, I worked to keep my eyes focused straight ahead of me, all the while watching intently from my peripheral vision for the one they called Isaac to make his appearance. As he finally broke through the throng of men shielding him from sight, I found my struggle not to watch outright intensify. The most handsome, and yet somehow still the most feminine of them all, Isaac was also the man who had started the brawl yesterday, the man who had publicly wrapped himself around his blonde companion, and the man who had leaned against myself without seeming to realize it just last night. He walked slowly, and I found myself wondering absentmindedly if he was sick. When he looked up from the ground and took in the occupants of the table, his slow shuffle stopped completely, and the other two turned to question his abrupt halt. I watched silently, all the while filling and refilling my spoon with oatmeal, as they conversed quickly and Rayne and Aaron proceeded to join us at the table, Isaac slipping covertly away from the noise and bustle of the breakfast area to sit beneath the drooping branches of a willow tree not far off. I exhaled, adding a comment here and there to the mundane conversation going on around me, and sent up a silent prayer that I had only to endure this for another few minutes before training would begin. Scanning the tables thoroughly one last time, I rose and walked quickly to the water-filled tub in which the bowls were to be placed once empty. Mildly curious as to why Isaac had disappeared, I entertained the thought of interrupting his solitude and disconcerting him once again. His reactions, so different than those I expected of most men, amused some inner part of me that had not been completely washed away from years of bleak hours spent training my mind and body. Before I could let myself be overcome by this strange want, one of my subordinates came running towards me, barreling through groups of laughing men with no regard to their outraged yells.

"Captain!" He was panting and sweat trickled from his brow and collected on the fabric of his dirty green army shirt. "Captain!" When he reached the place where I was standing I began to notice details I had previously missed, the cuts and tears in the cloth of his pants, the threadbare state of his shirt under all the grime, the worn and fraying soles of boots that had once been sturdy. Suddenly, alarm bells rang inside the confines of my mind, and I snapped around to face him completely, all other thoughts but those that centered on listening to this man burned from my mind by a numbing sense of foreshadowing.

"What news do you bring Sherwood?" I demanded harshly, my voice unfamiliar and raspy to my own ears; I could hear the tinge of fear that crept into it, the note of impatience as Sherwood gasped and struggled to force air through burning lungs. He looked ready to collapse. I remembered sending him out now, to where the real war raged near Georgia. The enemy hadn't yet been able to take any of the southern states, nor the western, though the north was being slowly and surely overrun.

"The First General…..the First General has…has…fallen." His gasps prolonged the bad tidings, and I swore vehemently several times before he was able to continue with his message. By now, half the men at the tables had stopped what they were doing and were listening with strained expressions to the conversation I held. I glared at them, fire in my eyes, and focused my attention back on Sherwood just as he began to speak again.

"There were too many of the rebels for our men to defend against. Before the end of the first day we struggled to keep their men at bay and managed to hold on until reinforcements could be moved from Atlanta to where the battle was taking place along the border. The reinforcement's gave us the time we needed to evacuate the nearby cities and towns of their women and children, grandparents, and household pets. Before a week was out, our numbers had been desecrated to no more than three hundred men, and the First General had been killed in the last skirmish. With our forces diminished we were forced to backtrack, and we lost ground, along with the northernmost cities in Georgia. The new First General sent me back to tell you that your troops need to be trained as quickly as possible, without leaving out anything. Once that is done, he has commanded me; you are to take your troops up to the forefront. The battle will be yours as soon as you can make it to the war zone, but for now they will hold as long as they can."

The shock I felt whip through me at these words was incredible. My stomach tightened, and threatened to heave its contents back from where they had settled. I felt my eyes narrow into miniscule slits as I peered angrily around the breakfast area, taking in the way these men held themselves, the undisciplined way in which they eavesdropped. I was unsure in that moment that I had what it would undoubtedly take to make these men into soldiers ready to fight and die for their country. The doubt lasted no more than a moment. I may have been the youngest Captain General the army had seen in two hundred years or more, but I was not unconfident in my abilities. I had been chosen for this position for a reason, and I would make sure these men became soldiers to be proud of. I estimated the time it would take me to work them, mold them, into suitable warriors, and knew that I had to work fast. Training times would double, meals times would be shorter, sleeping times would have to stay the same, or no one would still be alive enough by the time I was through with them to fight. Two weeks then, that's all we could afford to take for training. I sighed and called sharply for my first Lieutenant, and when he appeared before me I rattled off the new times I had decided upon, and the new orders that were to be carried out. "Immediately," I growled to him, and let my eyes flash their signature warning as he pushed away from me and back into the crowd to post them at the camp notice board. I flicked my eyes one last time to the confines of the willow tree, and watched as the green ropes of its branches slid apart deftly and Isaac slipped out. He stared warily around and when he saw that I was no longer at the table, made his way toward his companions without another thought. I smiled a tight lipped smile filled with grim satisfaction as he sat himself down, laughing in my mind that he would spend no more than a few minutes with his friends before they would all be traipsing out onto the training field. There would be no time for conversation then, and no breath with which to make it. I almost let myself feel pity for these men around me, some larger than others and obviously out of shape. They would feel the burn of their muscles being taxed to their limit more keenly than most. As I walked away from where the men talked excitedly about the messenger's warning, I steeled myself for the long day ahead and allowed my mind to wonder how Isaac and the others would fare. I quickly shut down that train of thought, afraid to ask myself about my newfound curiosity for that group and for one soldier in particular.

**BPOV**

Silently I slipped back into the crowded space where the men sat, looking around for the table, and people, whom I'd left behind. Breathing a sigh of unparalleled relief when I saw that the Captain was no longer there, I dashed toward them and took a seat, breathing hard from the small exertion I had forced my body to make.

"Bell-I mean Isaac!" Emmett's enthusiastic shout upon seeing me arrive next to them had me glaring at him in anger. If he couldn't even bother himself to make sure he used the names we had come up with, how was this ever going to work?

"Shhhh!" I hissed. I glanced warily around our table as men sauntered to and fro; they chatted excitedly about only men knew what.

"Why didn't you sit with us at breakfast….Isaac?" That was Jasper, perched comfortably on the hard wooden seat of the breakfast table. He lounged against the edge, legs sprawled, as if he weren't in the presence of three respectable women from a respectable town. Looking around me I realized that most of the men still sitting had positioned themselves likewise. I scowled in irritation that I had been offended by his lack of manners, when clearly he was just being a man among men.

"What was the Captain General doing with you?" I spat back, and was surprised at the vehemence in my tone. I saw through my peripheral vision Alice and Rose staring at me in veiled amusement, their eyes sparkling with untold mischief. I hadn't told them of my encounter with the overconfident Captain last night, but they had been witness to the scene the first day of our arrival, as had the entire camp and they had yet to let me forget my "queerness."

Jasper's mouth quirked up at one corner as he answered and I knew he felt the amused waves rolling off of Alice. They had been scarily in tune to one another since the day they had met, and Rose and Emmett were no different. Though whereas Jasper and Alice's connection needed no words to convey the depth of it, Rose and Emmett's relationship was nowhere near a silent appreciation of one another and the feelings they shared.

"He has been sitting with us since the very first day of our arrival," He told me casually. I let my next question be read through my eyes. Jasper always picked up on those kinds of silent signals, and I wanted to know just how close Jasper and Emmett had become to the man in question.

"When we got here that first day," he went on, "we had no idea where to go. Should we find someone to show us to a tent? Or should we tell someone that we had arrived very first thing? Neither of us could decide, and so we looked for someone to ask, but the men we found always wore the confused expressions we were sure we had on as well. Halfway across camp, near the training area, we ran into the Captain General practicing his swordsmanship with his First Lieutenant. We, or at least I, stared in dumbstruck fascination. He moved like water, flowing smoothly from one form to the next. But he was like a lion too, deadly in his litheness, and he seemed to know it. Seemed to know exactly how he intimidated people. We watched for what seemed like hours as they parried and struck and parried and released. I found myself wanting to learn and was just opening my mouth to speak when he twirled and dislodged his opponent's sword from his hand. It thudded dully to the ground, and he turned to face Emmett and myself, seeming to question our being there with his eyes. I have to say that I was intimidated, greatly. Even Emmett, standing behind me, had no words to fill the silence that ensued. 'Well? Why are you standing there like a brainless buffoon trapped between a rock and a panther?' Those were his first words to us, and with them the enchantment that had ensconced us while he fought was pricked like a bubble, and it shattered the chains that bound our mouths closed. Suddenly, and with no thought to the consequences, I laughed, and Emmett laughed with me though the general's mouth tightened into a straight line. 'We just got here,' I explained 'and we have no idea what we're supposed to do first.' His eyes seemed to lighten a little then, and he stalked over to where we stood and shook our hands. His grip was firm and I knew right then that he was good man; a man with a grip as firm as his and with the ability to look you right in the eye while shaking your hand confidently has to be good. He told us he'd help us to register ourselves, and then take us to our tent, and on the way we struck up a conversation with him. He asked about our homes, our families, how old we were, the basics really. I told him about Alice," here he stopped to look longingly over his shoulder at her, and I had to cough to bring him back to reality. "Right. Anyways, I told him about Alice and my parents, and Emmett told him about Rose and his parents, and then we both told him about you, of course. Since then he's sat with us here for our meals, though he hardly ever talks. We don't know much about him, except for his name and his station here in the army. That's all I can tell you."

I looked at Jasper then, really looked at him. Not as a brother, but as a man, and knew that he would support this…this…Captain General with all he had as long as he was able to keep the people he loved safe. If the general never allowed the war to spread any farther west, Jasper would follow him into certain death should he see fit to lead them to it in the course of the battles to come. I sighed ruefully and managed a small smile, and when Jasper grinned back I knew he understood my silent promise. I wouldn't make trouble for the general if he didn't try to make trouble for me. I wouldn't sit away from my friends, my family in everything but name, because I wanted to avoid him. I would accept his presence within our group with quiet acquiescence, and no complaints.

"So," I managed to make my mouth work again, and the words came out uncomfortably, stumbling on my dry tongue and skipping out through cracked lips. "What _is_ his name?"

Emmett burst out in gut-wrenching, breath heaving, eye watering peals of laughter at my grudging question. Rose smirked knowingly at his side, and Alice sent me a discreet thumbs up from behind Jasper's back. I sat up straighter as I waited, knowing Jasper would prolong this as long as he could, but just as he opened his mouth to give me the answer I needed, another voice boomed menacingly from the loudspeakers attached to the pole next to the breakfast tent, silencing everyone with its first words.

"All soldiers, and I do mean_ ALL_ soldiers will report immediately to the field where your training will commence. I have two weeks to make you into the best soldiers America has ever seen, and you lot need all the help you can get. Dump your breakfast utensils in the washbasins at the ends of your tables, and get up here quickly. I will not wait for stragglers. If you are late, or if you refuse to show up, you will be punished before the entire camp. Do not try my patience, it will get you nowhere."

The loudspeakers went silent, and for the first few seconds after the announcement all was silent as every soldier there digested the information. _Two weeks. We have two weeks._ In the split second it took that thought to penetrate and the next, benches were being overturned in the haste every man showed to get to the training field. I was rooted to ground, and couldn't make my feet move even if I'd wanted to. The others started forward, and I felt myself being pulled along. When I regained my own footing and stumbled forward on my own, I found Jasper looming next to me, smiling encouragement, knowing I would need it. Suddenly his brow creased and his reassuring smile turned instead to a lopsided grin, wicked in its amusement.

"His name," he yelled over the noise to me, "is Edward. Edward Mason."

I marched forward, my stomach threatening to bring its contents back into the world, and wondered why I'd ever thought joining the army was a good idea.

_Edward Mason. Hmm…Edward Mason. Edward Too-Cocky Over-the-Top Silent-as-a-Tree Deadly –with-a-Sword Mason. Maybe this wouldn't be TOO bad. Maybe I would make it through training. _I smiled shakily at my friends and broke out of the breakfast tent into the bright morning sunshine. There was a slight breeze, and birds sang in the trees on the edges of camp. I lifted my head higher and sauntered confidently towards where my destiny would begin.

_And then again, maybe I'm completely wrong._

**Thank you for reading this story! I hope you like it, and I'm open to anything you guys have to say! Thank you again, and remember to read and review! I hope to update again sometime this week, so stay tuned for chapter eight! **


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